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Food stamp distribution in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metro area exploded by 75 percent between 2007 and 2012.

The number of households receiving federal assistance under the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program ballooned to 35,256 in 2012 from 20,195 in 2007, Census Bureau data reveal.

SNAP stamp benefits in 2012 went to 14 percent of the residences in Lackawanna County, 17 percent in Luzerne County and 20 percent in Wyoming County. More than 90,300 people in the metro area participate in the food-stamp program, according to federal data cited by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey's office.

"Those numbers are staggering," said Teri Ooms, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development, a regional research and analysis organization. "This is the eroding of the middle class."

Escalating anti-hunger assistance in the region emerges in an atmosphere of growing hardship. Poverty is rising. The population is aging. Income gains are minimal and food prices are climbing.

"This is a crucial time of need in our community," said Michael Hanley, executive director at United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania, which provides programs and services to needy people in six counties. "It is very difficult to be poor. They are playing by the rules, but they still can't make it."

"What can you get for $4.28?" Mr. Hanley said. "You can hardly get a McDonald's meal for that."

With the stimulus conclusion, maximum individual state monthly benefits dropped on Nov. 1 to $189 from $200. For a family of four, maximum monthly assistance decreased to $632 from $668.

The reductions will eliminate more than $10.1 million annually in metro area SNAP benefits, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show.

As members of Congress consider an extension of the Farm Bill, which funds the SNAP program, Republicans are calling for reductions of up to $40 billion over the next decade and some Democrats seem open to cuts of about $4 billion.

"We don't want to acknowledge that there is a real need out there," Mr. Hanley said. "It's a time when we should be bolstering it, not taking away from it. Children are going to be hungry."

During a food distribution on Friday at the Peckville Assembly of God in Blakely, Michael Paluch said the $16 a month in food stamps he receives make putting food on the table a little easier for him.

"I never thought I would be in this situation," said Mr. Paluch, 76, a retired industrial worker from Forest City. "Expenses are out of control. It's too much."

Rob Mosser and Beth Kuchak, a couple from Scranton who draw $276 in monthly SNAP benefits, stopped at the Blakely distribution for fresh produce and baked goods.

They worry about the impact of further reductions in benefits.

"We would have to give up a lot because I'm the only one in the house with income," said Mr. Mosser, 40, who collects disability benefits resulting from a work-related injury.

Ms. Kuchak, 36, said she has been out of work for about a month and does not qualify for unemployment benefits.

"I'm trying to find a job, but there's nothing out there," she said. "We can't even buy Thanksgiving food."

In November 2012, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated 83 percent of U.S. food stamp recipients live in poverty. Half of Pennsylvania households receiving SNAP aid in 2012 had at least one child age 18 or younger, 29 percent had a resident age 60 or older and 50 percent had at least one person with a disability.

"The vast majority of people simply do not know who the poor are," said Monsignor Joseph Kelly, secretary of human services for the Diocese of Scranton.

The region has had the state's highest unemployment for 3½ years and limited job opportunities leave many people underemployed. About one in seven workers in the state are jobless, hold part-time positions because they cannot find full-time jobs or are unemployed but want to work.

Federal data point to other factors contributing to increasing regional food stamp use:

- Poverty is rising, with Lackawanna's rate increasing to 14.7 percent in 2012, from 13.5 the prior year, and Luzerne County's rate at 16.4 percent, up from 15.5 percent.

- The population continues to get older. The median age in the metro area in 2010 was 42.2, up from 39.6 in 2000.

- Regional wages, which have trailed state and national averages historically, advanced just 3.7 percent between 2009 and 2011. Average salaries nationally grew by 6 percent over the same period and state wages expanded by 6.4 percent.

- Food costs have risen about 20 percent since 2006.

"A simple thing like a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk has increased exorbitantly," Monsignor Kelly said. "People simply aren't making ends meet."

Food stamp use statewide expanded by the same percentage as the local advanced and the national proportion jumped by 65 percent during the same span. In 2012, 1.8 million residents of Pennsylvania collected $2.77 billion in SNAP assistance. From 2007 to 2012, food stamp distribution increased by 75 percent in Lackawanna County, 69 percent in Luzerne County and 155 percent in Wyoming County.

Despite the growth of food stamp distribution and severe stress on the area's food pantry network, many area residents regularly struggle to avoid hunger.

A USDA food-security report issued in September said 17.6 million U.S. households do not have constant access to enough nutrients to maintain a healthy lifestyle. About 630,000 people in Pennsylvania - 12.3 percent of households - lack food security, the report concludes.

Regional food instability is higher than the state average, according to federal statistics provided by the Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger, a nonprofit advocacy group. Fourteen percent of Luzerne County's population confronts food-access challenges, the group reported, and 13 percent of residents of Lackawanna and Wyoming counties face similar scarcity.

Although benefits rolls have swelled since the recession of 2007-09, about 470,000 Pennsylvanians who qualify for food stamps have not applied, according to federal data cited recently by the hunger coalition.

The state has no estimate on the number of people who qualify for food stamps but have not sought aid, said Carey Miller, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Welfare, which administers Pennsylvania's program.

"If they don't apply, we don't know if they are eligible," she said.

Programs extending the buying power of low-income people, such as food stamps, quickly boost the economy through a spending and respending cycle. Each dollar issued in food stamps generates about $1.74 in spending activity, according to Moody's Analytics, an economic forecasting and consulting company in West Chester.

Contact the writer: jhaggerty@timesshamrock.com

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